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PRESIDENT 

Eben  Francis  Thompson 

VICE  PRESIDENT 

Prof.  Charles  Rockwell  Lanman 


SECRETARY  AND  TREASURER 

^  "^  Charles  Dana  Burrage 


MENU 


LOBSTER     COCKTAIL 


CREAM      OF      FRESH      MUSHROOMS 
ALMONDS  OLIVES  RADISHES 


PLANKED      SHAD      AND      ROE 


SUPREME      OF      CHICKEN      PERIGEUX 

FRESH      ASPARAGUS 

NEW      POTATOES 


SPRING      VEGETABLE      SALAD 
CHEESE      CROQUETTES 
TOASTED      CRACKERS 


FRUIT      ICES 


FANCY      CAKE 


COFFEE 


MEMBERS  AND  GUESTS  PRESENT 


(A  composite  drawing  by  Albert  W.  Ellis  from  photographs  of 
several  o(  the  principal  members  of  the  Club.) 

FROM  MENU  OF  1918. 


TWENTY  YEARS  OF  THE  OMAR  KHAYYAM 
CLUB   OF   AMERICA 


BRONZE  MEDAL 

of  the  Omar  Khayydm  Club  of  America,  on  the  1 00th  anniversary  of  the 

Birth  of  Edward  FitzGerald,  March  31.  1909. 


^ 


TWENTY  YEARS 


OF  THE 


Omar  Khayyam  Club 


of  America 


1921 


',  ,'    :'.;','•»,'*?  >' 


Privately  Printed  by  the  ROSEMARY  PRESS 


Copyrighted,    1921 
By  the  Rosemary  Press 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

Dedication  '1 

Foreword  2 

Proem  3 

List  of  Officers  3 

The  Omar  Khayyam  Qub  (history)  7 

Poem,  Lincoln  26 

By  William  Bacon  Scofield 

Poem,  to  Omar  Khayyam  28 

By  Nathan  Haskell  Dole 
The  Cardinal  32 

Poem,  Omar  Khayyam  34 

By  George  Roe 
Omar  the  Sybsu-ite  38 

By  Stephen  C.  Houghton 

Poem,  Supplication  in  Time  of  War  53 

By  Henry  Harmon  Chamberlin 

An  Interesting  Letter  56 

Poem,  The  Price  66 

By  Henry  Harmon  Chamberlin 


445022 


How  Fortunate  68 

Omar  as  a  Mathematician  70 
By  Dr.  William  Edward  Story 

On  a  Piece  of  Vellum  83 

The  Message  of  Omar  Khayyam  9 1 
By  Charles  Dana  Burrage 

Members  and  Guests  1 03 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

The  Club  Vase  Orange  cover  paper  insert 

Composite  of  Club  White  paper  insert 

Club  Medal  Frontispiece 

Club  Seal  Title  page  and  Colophon 

Painting  by  Fred  A.  Demmler  4 

Eben  Francis  Thompson,  President  6 

Clay  Placque  by  Fred  Allen  8 

Translations  by  Eben  Francis  Thompson  1 1 

Translations  by  Club  Members  14 

Saenz-Pena,  Roe  and  Houghton 

Club  Menus  by  Dorothy  S.  Hughes  16 

Club  Menus  from  Albert  W.  Ellis  18 

Reverse  Ellis  Menus  20 

Some  Club  Editions  22 

The  Late  Ross  Turner,  Vice-President  25 

Nathan  Haskell  Dole,  Past  President  27 

Illuminated  Editions  31 

Illuminated  Edition  by  Sangorski  33 

Fac-Simile  Page  of  Manuscript  37 

Rubaiyat  in  color — Goes 


Illuminated  Edition  by  E.  F.  Faulkner  40 

Some  Club  Menus  from  Henry  Harmon 

Chamberlin  44 

Illuminated  Quatrain  49 

Prof.  Charles  Rockwell  Lanman,  Vice-President      52 

Club  Menu  1914  55 

Fac-Simile  Letter,  Barton  to  Crabbe  61-63 

Seven  FitzGerald  Autographs  64 

Some  Club  Menus  65 

Club  Menus  by  Dorothy  S.  Hughes  67 

Dr.  William  Edward  Story  69 

Illuminated  Quatrain  73 

Some  Persian  Manuscripts  76 

FitzGerald's  Cottage  at  Boulge  79 

Rose  Leaves  from  the  Grave  of  Omar  Khayyam      79 

Rosemary  Press  Editions  82 

The  Ouseley  Commission  86-88 

Charles  Dana  Burrage,  Secretary  and  Treasurer      90 

Some  Rare  Editions  of  Omar  95 

Club  Menu,  1920  99 

From  an  Ancient  Persian  Painting  1 02 


Dedicated  to 

EBEN  FRANCIS  THOMPSON 

founder  of  The  Omar  Kha3^am  Club  of  America,  its 
Secretary  for  twenty  years  and  now  its  President, 
lawyer,  wit,  prince  of  good  fellows,  Shakespearean 
scholar,  art  lover,  poet,  author,  and  first  translator 
from  the  original  Persian  of  the  complete  quatrains 
of  Omar  Kha3ryam — 

"Though  creeds  some  two  and  seventy  there  be. 
The  first  of  creeds,  I  hold,  is  love  of  thee." 


FOREWORD 

This  book  of  the  Omar  Khayyam  Club  is  an  attempt  to 
give  some  account  of  the  Club  and  to  gather  a  few  of  the 
contributions  of  some  of  its  members  at  Club  meetings  into 
one  book.  The  Club  is  an  association  of  men,  mostly  pro- 
fessional, who  believe  in  good  fellowship  and  who  are  in- 
terested in  the  Orient  in  one  way  or  another  and  more 
particularly  in  that  "King  of  the  Wise,"  the  Astronomer, 
Philosopher  and  Poet,  Omar  Khayyam. 

All  the  books  and  articles  illustrated  in  this  volume  are 
owned  by  members  of  the  Omar  Khayyam  Club  of  Amer- 
ica and  have  been  exhibited  at  Club  meetings. 

The  editor  ventures  to  hope  that  the  book  will  prove  of 
some  interest  to  the  members  and  their  friends  for  whom 
alone  it  is  intended. 

CHARLES  DANA  BURRAGE. 
Boston,  Massachusetts,   1920. 


PROEM 

To  the  Gentle  Reader 

Reserve  your  censure;  do  not  criticize 
This  book;  'twas  only  meant  for  friendly  eyes. 
And  if  you  are  an  Adept  you  must  know 
The  difference  between  the  Outward  Show 
And  Inward  Essence  of  all  things  mundane 
Is  clear,  and  knowing  it  you  can  explain. 
This  Life  Knot  holds  inseparably  entwined 
Both  Joy  and  Sorrow,  Good  and  Bad  combined. 
And  this  our  nature  needs  both  work  and  play 
Best  to  fulfill  its  mission  day  by  day; 
And  so  we  seize  this  hour  to  take  our  fling 
And  for  serene  old  Omar,  Wisdom's  King, 
We  twine  this  chaplet,  and  the  while  we  raise 
To  modest  Fitz  his  well  won  meed  of  praise. 
So,  Gentle  Reader,  do  not  criticize 
These  tributes,  only  meant  for  friendly  eyes. 


FROM  CLUB  MENU  OF  1920. 
Painting  by  Fred  A.  Demmler.       (Died  in  service  in  France,  1918.) 


LIST  OF  OFFICERS 

President 
NATHAN  HASKELL  DOLE,    1900-1917 
CHARLES  DANA  BURRAGE.   1917-1919 
EBEN  FRANCIS  THOMPSON.  1919— 

Vice-President 
ROSS  TURNER,    1900  to  his  death   1915 
CHARLES  ROCKWELL  LANMAN,   1920— 

Secretary 
EBEN  FRANCIS  THOMPSON,  1900-1920 
CHARLES  DANA  BURRAGE,   1920— 

Treasurer 
EBEN  FRANCIS  THOMPSON,   1900-1903 
CHARLES  DANA  BURRAGE,    1903— 


EBEN  FRANCIS  THOMPSON. 
President. 


THE  OMAR  KHAYYAM  CLUB 

The  genesis  of  the  Omar  Khayyam  Club  has  been 
attributed  to  an  observation  of  Sir  Richard  Burton 
when  dining  one  evening  at  Lord  Coleridge's,  that  the 
meetings  of  the  learned  Oriental  Societies  had  too 
much  of  pedantry  and  too  little  of  the  social  quality. 
This  was  in  1887  before  the  existence  of  any  Omar 
Khayyam  Club  either  in  London  or  elsewhere.  How- 
beit  this  idea  was  the  germ  from  which  the  Omar 
Kha5ryam  Club  sprang,  the  source  of  the  suggestion 
made  by  Eben  Francis  Thompson  to  Nathan  Haskell 
Dole,  that  a  Club  be  formed  of  admirers  of  the  Astro- 
nomer-Poet on  the  basis  of  good  fellowship  as  well  as 
Oriental  learning,  with  good  fellowship  as  the  predomi- 
nant feature.  It  seemed  odd  that  Thompson  should 
be  the  one  to  make  this  Persian  suggestion  to  Dole,  for 
more  than  twenty  years  before,  the  latter  had  been  the 
former's  Greek  instructor.  In  the  meantime  the  two 
friends  had  turned  to  Oriental  studies  in  general  and 


1 


CLAY  PLACQUE  BY  FRED  ALLEN. 


9 
Omar  Khayyam  in  particular.  It  was  not  long  after 
this  tiffin  talk  that  the  American  Club  was  on  its  pros- 
perous way  with  a  membership  not  large  but  distinctly 
representative  of  those  interested,  in  varying  degrees 
and  from  widely  different  angles,  in  the  customs,  art 
and  literature  of  the  Orient  in  general  and  in  the  works 
and  personality  of  Omsfr  Khayyam  in  particular. 

The  first  session  of  the  Club  was  held  at  Young's, 
Boston,  on  Saturday,  March  31,1 900,  the  ninety-first 
anniversary  of  the  birth  of  Eldward  FitzGerald,  among 
those  present  besides  Dole  and  Thompson,  being  Ar- 
thur Foote,  musician;  Arthur  Macy,  poet;  Alfred  C- 
Potter  of  the  Harvard  Library,  Sylvester  Baxter,  Ross 
Turner,  Dr.  William  E.  Story,  mathematician,  and 
Colonel  Thomas  Wentworth  Higginson. 

The  Festival  of  Saint  Edward  as  it  has  been  called, 
celebrating  the  anniversaries  of  FitzGerald's  birth,  be- 
ing to  a  certain  extent  a  fixed  feast,  all  of  the  choicest 
Omarian  spirits  were  unable  to  foregather;  nor  could 
a  Club  with  a  membership  scattered  far  and  wide, 
bring  to  its  table  at  any  one  time  all  its  members.  From 


10 
the  Persian  vase  in  the  table's  center  with  its  one  rose 
of  Kashmir  to  the  various  items  of  the  menu  from 
chilo  to  Shirazi  wine  and  Persian  rose  leaves  the  ses- 
sion was  decidedly  Omarian.  It  is  singular  too,  that 
at  this  meeting  the  mystic  number  of  Nine  persons 
were  present  just  as  at  the  first  dinner  of  the  London 
Club  the  same  number  participated.  Dole  exhibited 
the  manuscript  of  the  Greek  version  which  had  been 
made  by  Professor  Crawley  of  Bradfield  College,  Berk- 
shire, England  and  also  displayed  a  copy  of  the  first 
American  edition. 

Laurence  C.  Woodworth  of  Govemeur,  New  York 
sent  an  edition  of  Tennyson's  poem  to  FitzGerald, 
privately  printed  by  the  Brothers  of  the  Book  com- 
memorating FitzGerald's  ninety-first  birthday  and  is- 
sued only  to  members  of  the  Club  on  the  day  of  its 
inception.  Story  produced  a  copy  of  Omar's  algebra 
and  others  displayed  many  an  Oriental  treasure  for 
the  delectation  of  their  fellows.  Colonel  Higginson 
was  delightfully  reminiscent  and  discoursed  upon  other 
Omarians   past  and   present,   dwelling  wistfully   on 


n 


Rose  Garden. 
Rubdiydt  with  Persian  Text.  Complete  Translation  of  Quatrains  of  Omar  Khayydm. 

Translations  by  Eben  Francis  Thompson. 


12 
"some  we  loved  the  loveliest  and  the  best  that  from 
his  vintage  rolling  Time  has  prest,  who  had  drunk  their 
cup  a  round  or  two  before  and  one  by  one,  crept  silent- 
ly to  rest."  Thompson  read  some  brief  extracts  from 
the  manuscript  of  his  then  incomplete  complete  trans- 
lation upon  which  he  had  then  been  working  for  twen- 
ty years,  and  generally  every  one  contributed  to  the 
symposium,  which  made  the  event  one  of  unmixed 
delight. 

The  officers  chosen  at  the  first  meeting  were :  Presi- 
dent, Nathan  Haskell  Dole ;  Vice-President,  Ross  Tur- 
ner; Secretary  and  Treasurer,  Eben  Francis  Thomp- 
son, but  later  Charles  Dana  Burrage,  an  enthusiastic 
Omarian  and  Oriental  scholar  and  collector,  was  in- 
duced to  take  the  office  of  Treasurer,  which  he  still 
holds,  thanks  to  his  remarkable  efficiency  and  gener- 
ous initiative  in  the  matter  of  caring  for  the  spiritual 
and  physical  needs  of  his  fellow  members.  At  this 
first  session  the  menu  was  printed  in  purple  and  each 
card  had  a  different  quotation  from  Omar. 

At  the  second  session,  in  1901,  the  custom  of 
having  guests  was  inaugurated  and  one  or  more  guests 


13 

have  graced  the  feast  since  that  time.  Arthur  Macy, 
an  original  member  who  was  present  at  our  earlier 
meetings  and  who  was  one  of  the  most  companion- 
able of  men,  soon  passed  from  us  and  we  recall  his 
memorial  lines  suggested  by  the  death  of  a  friend,  en- 
titled 

In  Remembrance. 

"Sit  closer,  friends,  around  the  board! 
Death  grants  us  but  a  little  time. 
Now  let  the  cheering  cup  be  poured, 
And  welcome  song  and  jest  and  rhyme. 
Elnjoy  the  gifts  that  fortune  sends, 
Sit  closer,  friends! 

And  in  that  realm  is  there  no  joy 
Of  comrades  and  the  jocund  sense? 
Can  Death  so  utterly  destroy — 
For  gladness  grant  no  recompense? 
And  can  it  be  that  laughter  ends 
With  absent  friends? 


14 


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rubAiyat, 


FRANCISCO   BF.LTPAN 
16.   PRtNCIPE.    16. -MADBID 


TRANSLATION  OF  OMAR  INTO  SPANISH.  SPANISH  TRANSLATION  SECOND  EDITION. 
By  Carlos  Muzzio  Saenz-Pena  By  Carlos  Muzzio  Saenz-Pena 

ORIGINAL  TRANSLATION  OF  OMAR.  IN  THE  PATH  OF  THE  PERSIAN. 

By  George  Roe   (Four  editions)  By  Stephen  C.  Houghton  ' 


15 
Dear  Omar,  should  you  chance  to  meet 
Our  Brother  Somewhere  in  the  Gloom, 
Pray  give  to  Him  a  Message  sweet, 
From  Brothers  in  the  Tavern  Room. 
He  will  not  ask  Who  'tis  that  sends. 
For  we  were  friends. 

Again  a  parting  sail  we  see ; 
Another  boat  has  left  the  shore. 
A  kinder  soul  on  board  has  she 
Than  ever  left  the  land  before. 
And  as  her  outward  course  she  bends, 
Sit  closer,  friends!" 

It  must  not  be  thought  that,  because  we  have  ob- 
served FitzGerald's  birthday  by  a  meeting  and  lunch- 
eon on  each  March  3 1 ,  or  the  most  convenient  Satur- 
day nearest  to  or  following  that  date,  the  Club  has 
met  on  no  other  occasions.  There  have  been  many 
minor  festivals  when  some  visiting  Brother  has  ap- 
proached Boston  from  time  to  time,  scattered  through 
the  years,  as  well  as  meetings  in  other  places. 


n 


s 

a. 


^  -  17 

There  is  a  popular  idea  that  Omar  was  a  sot  and 
materialist  which  is  very  far  from  the  truth.  So  there 
are  some  excellent  people  who  have  harbored  the  fancy 
that  most  Omarians  are  intemperate  in  alcoholic  bev- 
erages. As  a  matter  of  fact  all  the  members  of  the 
Club  are  temperate  in  everything  excepting  in  books 
and  it  may  be  in  Bohea  or  Orange  Pekoe,  while  a 
considerable  proportion  of  them  are  wholly  abstinent, 
so  that  the  Prohibition  amendment  will  have  no  deter- 
rent effect  on  their  meetings. 

The  members  are  well  represented  in  the  way  of 
bibliography. 

Mr.  Dole's  multivariorum  and  other  editions  and 
poems  come  first  in  point  of  scope;  his  editions  of 
Greek  and  Latin  versions  are  exceedingly  well  done, 
his  de  luxe  edition  of  the  former  being  one  of  the 
handsomest  books  ever  issued  in  this  country.  Mr. 
Charles  Dana  Burrage's  "Message  of  Omar  Khayyam** 
is  an  exceedingly  well  written  consideration  of  the  sub- 
ject. Mr.  George  Roe's  version  is  that  of  a  Persian 
scholar  and  poet;  it  paraphrases  closely  the  original 
Persian  and  is  finely  poetical. 


,'    ^'-:'?9> 


individual  Club  Menus,    1916.     Designed  and  presented  by  Albert  W.   Ellis 


19 
Mr.  Thompson  in  his  complete  translation  of  the 
quatrains  of  Omar  has  apparently  covered  the  field 
for  no  new  quatrains  have  been  discovered  in  the  four- 
teen years  since  it  was  issued,  while  his  edition  of 
FitzGerald's  Rubaiyat  has  gone  farther  than  any  other 
since  it  gives  the  Persian  text  in  both  Nastalik  and  Ro- 
man letter  with  a  line  for  line  literal  translation. 

His  "Rose  Garden"  apparently  has  demonstrated 
how  far  wrong  the  popular  idea  of  Omar  has  been. 
Professor  Story,  one  of  our  original  members,  in  his 
essay  upon  Omar  as  a  Mathematician,  issued  by  the 
Club  in  1919,  has  produced  briefly  a  masterly  and 
authoritative  work  upon  the  subject.  Mr.  G>es,  Mr- 
Turner,  Mr.  Burrage  and  some  other  members  have 
issued  special  editions  or  aided  in  the  publication  of 
books  relating  to  the  subject. 

One  of  the  club  members,  Qurlos  Muzzio  Saenz- 
Pena,  living  in  Buenos  Aires,  Argentina,  came  to  Bos- 
ton to  study.  On  his  return,  in  the  enthusiasm  of  his 
youth,  he  translated  the  Rubaiyat  of  Omar  Khay- 
yam into  Spanish.    This  was  the  first  Spanish  transla-, 


29. 


21 
tion  of  Omar  in  South  America.  This  has  now 
passed  into  a  large  second  edition  at  Madrid.  He  has 
also  published  several  other  translations  from  Persian 
originals. 

Another  member,  Stephen  C.  Houghton,  of  San 
Jose,  California,  has  won  high  praise  for  his  philosoph- 
ical poem,  "In  the  Path  of  the  Persian." 

Among  many  things  due  to  the  inspiration  of  the 
Club  was  the  publication  by  Charles  Hardy  Meigs,  a 
member,  of  the  famous  miniature  Omar,  the  introduc- 
tion to  which  was  written  by  Mr.  Dole.  This  book  at 
the  present  writing  is  the  smallest  ever  printed.  The 
edition  was  limited  to  fifty-seven  copies  and  today  it 
is  much  sought,  bringing  a  very  large  price  for  so 
small  a  book. 

In  1 909  the  Club  celebrated  the  Centenary  of  Ed- 
ward FitzGerald's  birth  as  well  as  the  fiftieth  year  of 
the  FitzGerald  princeps  by  a  Festival  held  at  the  Al- 
gonquin Club  on  March  3 1 .  On  this  occasion  they 
issued  an  exact  facsimile  of  the  first  edition  upon 
Japan  paper  printed  at  the  University  Press  and  limited 


22 


SOME  CLUB  EDITIONS  OF  THE  RUBAIYAT 
Rosemary  Rosemary  Press 

Press  Carolon  Press 


23 
to  fifty  copies  numbered  and  signed  by  the  Club  offi- 
cers. The  Club  also  issued  a  bronze  medallion  portrait 
of  FitzGerald.  There  was  also  issued  a  limited  edition 
of  a  poem,  written  about  1 840  by  Ann  G.  Storrow,  an 
aunt  of  Colonel  Higginson,  describing  a  ball  at  Cam- 
bridge in  1 840,  which  poem  had  been  read  by  him  at 
the  Club  session  in  1908.  This  was  issued  by  the 
Club  as  an  especial  compliment  to  its  best  loved  and 
oldest  member,  Colonel  Higginson. 

There  were  present  at  this  Centenary  celebration  the 
following  members  emd  guests:  Thomas  Wentworth 
Higginson,  Charles  Dana  Burrage,  Nathan  Haskell 
Dole,  Edward  P.  Hatch,  A.  V.  W.  Jackson,  William 
Dana.  Orcutt,  Walter  Oilman  Page,  Dr.  Josiah  H 
Brown,  William  F.  Russell,  Williaun  W.  Johnson,  Ar- 
thur Sherburne  Hardy,  William  Bacon  Scofield, 
Charles  F.  Libby,  T.  B.  Mosher,  Louis  N.  Wilson,  Eben 
Francis  Thompson,  A.  C.  Potter,  Arthur  E.  Childs  and 
W.  H.  Kenney.  The  exercises  were  worthily  con- 
ducted, the  poems  and  speeches  being  brilliant  and 
timely.     Mr.   Burrage  exhibited  a  great  variety  of 


24 
editions  the  first,  second,  third  and  fourth  FitzGerald ; 
the  famous  Quilter  edition,  the  Madras,  the  miniature, 
the  first  American,  the  GroHer  Club,  the  Ross  Turner, 
manuscript  editions  of  Sangorski  and  others,  original 
letters  of  FitzGerald  and  many  other  interesting  items. 

One  of  our  members.  Professor  A.  V.  W.  Jackson, 
has  made  a  pilgrimage  to  the  tomb  of  Omar  at  Nish- 
apur. 

Another,  Mr.  Thompson,  has  twice,  in  1910  and 
1912,  placed  the  wreath  of  the  Omar  Khayyam  Club 
on  the  grave  of  Edward  FitzGerald  in  Boulge  Church- 
yard. 


25 


THE  LATE  ROSS  TURNER. 
Vice-President   1900-1915. 


26 


LINCOLN 
By  William  Bacon  Scofield 

Somehow  I  think  that  in  the  near  Beyond 

He  sits  and  broods  o'er  all  this  human  strife 

And  that  new  furrows  line  his  kindly  face, 

Full  sad  enough  from  his  own  wezuy  life, 

While  the  great  heart,  that  throbbed  for  others*  care. 

Still  thrills  in  pity  for  us,  even  there. 

Read  at  the  session  of  April  5,  1919. 


27 


NATHAN  HASKELL  DOLE 
President,    1900-1917 


28 


TO  OMAR  KHAYYAM 

(Written  for  the  Omar  Khayyam  Club  of  America 
under  the  Stress  of  Prohibition) 

By  Nathan  Haskell  Dole 


The  Prophet  interdicted  ruby  Wine — 

Which,  made  by  God  Himself,  must  be  divine — 

You  stood  on  God's  side,  Omar,  good  for  you  I 
And  sang  the  Praise  of  Persia's  fruitful  Vine. 
Men  trample  down  the  purple  Grapes,  whose  Juice 
Flows  in  a  fragrant  Stream  from  out  the  sluice; 

Then  God  comes  down  and  breathes  upon  the  Vat, 
And  lol  the  red  Wine  meant  for  joyous  Use. 
God's  Spirit  permeates  the  ruby  Bowl 
As  in  the  Body  lives  the  glowing  Soul; 

It  thrills,  it  fills,  it  kills  the  ghastly  Ills 
That  over  hapless  Men  in  Billows  roll. 
When  Gloom  or  Disappointment  settles  down 
And  stormy  Skies  disturb  with  horrid  Frown, 


29 

One  brimming  Cup  will  put  the  Clouds  to  Flight 
And  all  one's  Sorrows  in  Oblivion  drown. 
One  brimming  Cup  will  make  the  sad  Heart  gay. 
Will  turn  the  Winter's  Cold  to  warmth  of  May, 

Will  change  a  bitter  Foe  to  faithful  Friend, 
Will  make  the  recreant  Muse  the  Will  obey! 
So,  Omar,  Haunter  of  the  festive  Shrine, 
And  Watcher  of  the  Stars  which  nightly  shine,  ^ 

What  think  you  of  this  sober  Western  World, 
That  joins  Mohammed  in  forbidding  Wine? 
Do  you  look  down  with  Pity  in  your  Eyes 
To  see  the  cheering  Draught  you  wont  to  prize 

Made  contraband  by  stern  fanatic  Laws 
Which  turn  the  Truths  of  God  to  Devil's  Lies! 
Good  Wine,  we  know,  is  promised  us  in  Heaven, 
And  tho  the  Loaf  of  Bread  may  have  no  leaven. 

We  will  join  you  there  and  share  your  jocund  Fare, 
Where'er  you  are — in  Number  One  or  Seven! 
Ah  well!     We  've  had  full  many  a  joyous  Feast, 
With  you  as  our  high  Pattern  and  High  Priest; 

With  Moderation  which  we  all  observe — 
We  of  the  West  and  you.  Star  of  the  Elast. 
And  though  we  have  to  hold  an  empty  Glass, 


30 
*T  is  filled  with  finest  Spirit: — let  it  pass. 

We  drink  your  Health — Imagination  reigns — 
Down  with  the  Dolts  whose  Ignorance  is  crass! 
Mayhap  our  Burrage,  with  his  Skill  empirical 
,,  Will  reperform  the  Cana-marriage  Miracle, 

And  (by  a  magic  Word)  change  cold  Water 
To  red  red  Wine  to  make  our  Praises  lyrical! 
Hail  to  you,  Omar,  friendliest  of  the  Sages, 
Your  Message  cheers  us,   ringing  through  the  Ages: — 

Our  Eben  Francis  has  translated  it 
In  golden  Verses  crowning  creamy  Pages. 


....,,    3f 


* 


i^ 


^.vo.^^Tthe  suK  whcl^catter'D  into  flight 

THE  STARS  BEFORE  HIM   (TOM   THE  HELD  OF  NIGHT, 
^DRIVES  NIGHT  ALONG  WITH  THEM  FROM  HEAVN,  AND   STRIKES 
THE  SULTAN'S  TURRET   WITH   A  SHAFT  OF  UGHT.       i^ 


ILLUMINATED  EDITIONS  OF  THE  RUBAIYAT. 

1.  By  Sangorski.  3.         By  Ross  Turner. 

2.  By  H.   H.  R.  Thompson.  4.         By  Dorothy  S.  Hughes. 


32 


THE  CARDINAL 

On  his  high  throne  a  cardinal  sat, 

Cogitating  on  this  and  on  that; 

"Omar  Khayyam,"  quoth  he, 

Has  nothing  on  me 

For  I  have  my  own  Rubyhat. 

"Not  FitzGerald  nor  Thompson,"  he  said 

"Nor  Dole,  Whinfield  nor  Roe  are  ahead; 

As  surely  as  they 

I  am  truly  O.  K., 

For  my  Rubyhat  is  much  Red!" 

(Burst  of  ordnance  heard  without  the  palace  walls.) 


r 
r 
c 

z 

> 

H 

m 
O 

z 

!S 

r 
r 
c 


03 

m 

7i 
H 
O 
CO 

> 

Z 

o 
o 
:» 

CO 

7^ 


34 


OMAR  KHAYYAM 

Though  in  Thy  Service  Pearls  I  ne'er  shall  thread. 
Nor  cleanse  the  Dust  my  countless  Sins  have  spread. 
By  this  one  Grace  I  hope  for  Mercy  still. 
Ne'er  called  I  Two  the  One  Great  Fountain  Head. 

Translated  from  a  copy  of  the  first  stanza  of  the  Ouseley 

MS. 

I 

Friend  Omar,  thy  voice  is  still  singing, 
Altho*  thou  art  with  us  no  more, 
Thy  numbers  in  melody  ringing 
Aloud  on  our  Western  shore. 

11 

In  the  highways  of  Worcester  1  hear  thee, 
And  down  by  the  Southern  seas, 
In  the  glorious  prairies  of  Texas 
Thy  music  is  flung  to  the  breeze. 


35 
III 

And  here  in  the  City  of  Boston, 

Where  Freedom  her  glory  hath  shed, 

Where  Knowledge  and  Wisdom  are  cherished, 

We  gather  to  honor  the  dead. 

IV 

And  tho'  for  a  while  we're  divided. 
We,  too,  shcdl  return  to  the  sod 
Where  all  living  things  are  united 
To  dwell  in  the  bosom  of  God. 

V 

Where  anger  and  enmity  perish, 
Where  sorrow  forever  is  o'er, 
Where  sickness  eind  pain  cannot  follow 
And  grief  can  pursue  us  no  more. 

VI 
Where  Khuda  in  love  doth  enfold  us 
And  taketh  our  souls  to  his  breast. 
Where  blessed  Nirvana  doth  hold  us 
At  peace  in  the  Kingdom  of  Rest. 


36 

VII 

And  there  shall  our  spirits  awaken, 
When  all  are  absorbed  in  the  Whole, 
And  the  Maya  of  Self  is  forgotten 
And  Union  with  God  is  the  GosJ. 

George  Roe, 

San  Antonio,  Tex2is. 


ttlxdt   ^ 


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*<&  Manuscript  Rubaiyat 

ttli0i$Pi^  Page  ri"xi4" 

From  the  Library  of 

FRANK   L.  GOES 

tit  ttl^iiitlg  .- 


Engrossed  and  illuminated  in  waterproof 
India  ink  and  gold  by  Isabelle  A.  Barrett 
of  New  York  City.     1914. 


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Wl  JKeaiTft  atxb  -S^yrtiteft  that 
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ftla^ft  toitlji  liift  lenn^lianti^bStootb 


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38 

OMAR  THE  SYBARITE 
By  Stephen  C.  Houghton 

Omar  Khayyam  was  undoubtedly  eminent  as  astro- 
nomer and  mathematician;  but  were  he  a  Galileo  or 
a  Herschel,  an  Archimedes  or  a  Newton,  it  goes  with- 
out saying  that  his  hold  on  the  popular  mind  today 
would  be  restricted.  Omar  the  philosopher  gives  us 
nothing  new,  nothing  which  had  not  before  his  era 
been  thrashed  out  by  the  ancient  Greeks ;  and  of  Omar 
the  poet  we  of  so  diflFerent  speech  may  only  fairly 
judge  by  his  vogue  among  his  own  people,  which,  it 
would  appear,  was  not  and  is  not  on  a  par  with  that 
of  other  Persian  poets  of  his  age,  and  others  before 
and  after  his  day. 

What,  then,  is  the  charm  of  his  Rubaiyat,  which  has 
taken  so  firm  a  hold  upon  modem  minds  and  hearts, 
and  particularly,  chiefly  through  the  notable  work  of 
his  kindred  spirit  Edward  FitzGerald,  so  entrances  the 
English-speaking  world  in  our  day?     To  my  mind,  it 


39 
is  the  exquisite  sybaritism  which  permeates  his  stan- 
zas, appealing  to  the  general  consciousness,  since  in 
all  elevated  and  refined  natures  the  sybaritic  spirit  is 
existent — nay,  dominant.  Indeed,  the  pursuit  of 
pleasure  is  universal  with  the  human  race,  the  goal  of 
all  ambitions  and  hopes,  the  end  of  all  effort. 

Pleasure  is  Lord,  omnipotent  its  sway; 
All  men  their  hearts  on  its  low  altar  lay. 

Saint,  sage,  drudge,  gleaner,  roister,  sybarite. 
Each  seeks  its  solace,  in  his  chosen  way. 

Pleasurable  emotion,  present  or  future,  is  the  uni- 
versal aim,  and  each  of  us  strives,  in  his  chosen  way, 
to  reach  the  common  goal ;  and  since  no  man  can  fore- 
see his  status  in  the  Beyond,  in  the  days  of  life  remain- 
ing to  him,  or  even  tomorrow,  it  is  obviously  the  part 
of  wisdom  to  make  the  most  of  the  opportunities  of 
today. 

Life  knows  no  unborn  hiture,  no  dead  past. 

For  growth  and  gain,  for  work  and  feast  8Uid  fast. 
For  all  the  uses  of  Etemi^, 

Today  is  thine.     Elmploy  it  as  thy  last. 


40 


UR. 


u 


■o  flight  If    j 


"^^AKE't  FortheSui 

The  Stars  before  him  from  the  Field  of  Night, 
Drives  Night  along  with  them  from  Heav'n  and  strikes 
The  SultAn's  Turret  with  a  Shaft  of  Light. 


n 


If 


ILLUMINATED  BY  E.  F.  FAULKNER 


41 

The  underlying  sentiment  here  has  been  strikingly 
expressed  by  Kalidasa,  the  greatest  of  the  Sanscrit 
poets. 
K  Listen  to  the  invocation  of  the  Dawn: 

Look  to  this  day.     In  its  brief  course 
I  Lie  all  the  realities,  all  the  verities,  of  life: 

f  The  bliss  of  growth. 

The  glory  of  action. 
The  splendor  of  beauty. 
For  yesterday  is  but  a  dresun, 
And  tomorrow  is  only  a  vision. 
But  this  day,  well  lived. 

Makes  every  yesterday  a  dream  of  pleasure, 
And  every  tomorrow  a  vision  of  hope. 
Look  well,  then,  to  this  day. 
This  is  the  invocation  of  the  Dawn. 

Now,  what  is  pleeisure,  and  how  is  it  to  be  attained? 
Verily,  it  is  not  gross  in  its  nature,  and  verily,  verily, 
its  enjoyment  lies  not  in  excesses. 

Pleasure  is  sweet,  and  sweet  its  memories. 
To  drain  Joy's  chalice  to  the  nauseous  lees. 

To  quaff  delights  that  end  in  lasting  griefs. 
These  are  not  pleasures,  but  debaucheries. 


42 
Epicurus,  the  soundest  of  all  philosophers,  who,  ac- 
cording to  Lucretius, 

in  wit  surpassed  all  men  as  far 
As  doth  the  midday  sun  the  midnight  star,, 

has  more  rationally  and  clearly  than  any  other  pointed 
the  way  to  the  attainment  of  pleasure.  Epicurus  was 
so  essentially  a  sybarite  that  the  term  Epicurean  is  an 
accepted  synonym  for  sybaritic.  His  philosophy  rec- 
ognized pleasurable  emotion  as  the  highest  good  at- 
tainable by  man,  but  held  that,  while  the  cravings  of 
natural  physical  appetites  must  be  given  consideration, 
pleasures  of  the  mind,  to  be  secured  by  study  and  con- 
templation and  congenial  intercourse,  are  the  sum- 
mum  bonum. 

King  Solomon,  wise  in  everything  excepting  a  pes- 
simistic mental  attitude,  undertook  a  systematic  and 
exhaustive  investigation  of  the  problems  of  life,  an 
investigation  which  he  esteemed  to  be  the  highest 
office  of  wisdom,  as  this  sore  travail  hath  God  given 
to  the  sons  of  men  to  be  exercised  therewith.  To  the 
unknowable,  to  questions  relating  to  man's  origin, 


43 
characteristics,  conditions  and  destiny,  he  gave  but 
cursory  attention. 

Whence  are  we  haled  to  this  demesne  of  woe? 
How  may  the  spirit  learn  to  know  or  grow? 

Whither  may  dumb  Death's  trackless  footsteps  tend? 
Why  are  we  come,  why  do  we  stay,  why  go? 
Whence,  how,  why,  whither:  never  saint  nor  sage 
By  prayer  or  rare  research  from  age  to  age 

Hath  solved  one  mystery,  or  gained  one  clue; 
Nor  shall  the  futile  quest  my  hour  engage. 

Since  throughout  the  ages  the  appeals  of  saintly 
men  to  Heaven  and  the  investigations  of  science  have 
failed  to  secure  a  glimmer  of  light  on  these  great  mys- 
teries, the  sage  dismisses  the  subject  in  few  words. 

I  said  in  mine  heart  concerning  the  estate  of  the  sons  of 
men,  that  God  might  manifest  to  them,  and  that  they  might 
see,  that  they  themselves  are  beasts.  For  that  which  befall- 
eth  the  sons  of  men  befalleth  beasts;  even  one  thing  be- 
falleth  them:  as  the  one  dieth,  so  dieth  the  other.  Yea, 
they  have  all  one  breath;  so  that  a  man  hath  no  preemi- 
nence above  a  beast:  for  all  is  vanity.  All  go  unto  one 
place;  all  are  of  the  dust,  and  all  turn  to  dust  again.     Who 


44 


OF  aMCKtca 


aumtn-c-POTTeR 

•Tfi2Q- 


^ai^.oii 


nWc«3ain«  a«ft   fruits 
Green  TutH*  Soup 


Om.T 

It 

P»om 
S.I 

J.II4 

K  lom  ate*  *T«pp*«« 

li* 

p.    a  1. 

IVr^paaDur 

ivion  15  sone  GTv 


il 

s 


.-^ 


^i^^^g  f^^^iawanvieiuiTswui^i^ 


^^^me  Kir IWGlones  01  Ihis World;  arj^ore 
_'u-.K  for  iheP-n:,pW5pard3x5e  to  ame; 
H^  'At  tVieCash.  an3  lei  ttie  Ct«<3u  go 
Mor  heed  W  Tu.molt  oi  a  disfanr"]^ 
Drjm'. 


'  ''ieWc9iJijHc>pe  min  sei  ttwtrtafe  upon 
T!v„53.na-(jrr{  DTospTi;  atnj  snon, 
U  ■--  Onoi  uDon  mtDtseT^'s  Aisrar-jce 
i-^  •"      -  -  . ^«.  hour  arluio-is  cione. 


^^- 


YheniyTieLipoj^r'his  pooi  eirH^nVrn 
Ikan'c]  iheSecreV  rf inyliifeti  brn: 

BTn\k.'-fcr  once  oeao  ijouiKversKSi  leWn- 


The  TOwwr  - 
fl^cvasoti  TCT  J    .  .  p 
SKoll  lute  ii  barn  t,  , 
rior  all  youT  fears  u<; 


Some  Individual  Painted  Menus,  Worcester,  June  5,    1920. 
Presented  by  Henry  Harmon  Chamberlin. 


45 
knoweth  the  spirit  of  man  that  goeth  upward,  and  the 
spirit  of  the  beast  that  goeth  downward  to  the  earth? 
Wherefore  I  perceive  that  there  is  nothing  better,  than  that 
a  man  should  rejoice  in  his  own  work;  for  that  is  his  por- 
tion; for  who  shall  bring  him  to  see  what  shall  be  after 
him? 

With  a  view,  then,  of  determining  what  is  that  good 
for  the  sons  of  men  which  they  should  do  under  Hea- 
ven all  the  days  of  their  life,  Solomon  inaugurated  a 
course  of  personal  practical  experimentation.  He  gave 
himself  over  to  jollity,  to  wine,  to  carnal  delights  of 
every  nature.  He  withheld  not  his  heart  from  any  joy ; 
and  to  all  his  experiences  he  applied  the  test  of  wis- 
dom. He  drew  on  the  experiences  of  others  so  largely 
that  he  declared  he  had  seen  all  the  works  that  are  done 
under  the  sun.  He  built  up  and  maint£dned  a  magnifi- 
cent establishment,  with  all  the  adjuncts  of  luxury, 
splendor,  productiveness  Eind  usefulness  that  the  imag- 
ination could  suggest.  As  a  result  of  all  this  inquiry 
and  experimentation,  the  royal  pessimist  decides  that 
all  is  vanity — emptiness — and  vexation  of  spirit;  and 


46 

in  his  wisdom  he  reaches  the  conclusion  that  there  is 
nothing  better  for  a  man  than  that  he  should  eat  and 
drink,  and  that  he  should  make  his  soul  enjoy  good 
in  his  labor;  and  that  this  is  so  ordained  of  God. 

Accepting,  as  well  we  may,  the  judgment  of  the 
wise  King  of  Israel,  the  rational  course  of  procedure 
open  to  man  lies  in  the  cultivation  of  the  sybaritic 
spirit,  and  the  devotion  of  his  energies  to  such  labors 
as  shall  afford  the  greatest  degree  of  individual  satis- 
faction. The  pleasures  of  the  table  are  rightly  given 
precedence,  not  only  as  supplying  the  needs  of  the 
body,  but  as  also  as  affording  opportunity  for  needful 
relaxation  from  labor,  and  the  direction  of  the  atten- 
tion to  the  amenities  which  contribute  so  potentially 
to  mental  and  spiritual  as  well  as  physical  health  and 
advantage. 

To  those  who  would  make  the  most  and  best  of  life, 
therefore,  the  family  dining  room  should  be  a  temple 
dedicated  to  the  guardian  angel  of  domestic  joys,  an 
academy  for  the  development  of  education  and  char- 
acter.   The  household,  in  cottage  or  palace,  in  which 


47 

the  daily  reunion  at  the  dining  table  is  marked  with 
good  cheer  and  decorous  cheerfulness,  where  elders 
are  intelligent  and  sagacious,  and  children  are  encour- 
aged to  freely  express  their  views  and  relate  their  ex- 
periences to  sympathetic  and  tolerant  ears,  is  a  college, 
the  educational  course  of  which  is  followed  to  the 
accompaniment  of  a  round  of  wholesome  pleasures, 
and  its  graduates,  besides  cementing  bonds  of  en- 
nobling affection,  should  have  acquired  an  endowment 
of  right-mindedness,  considerateness,  good  breeding 
and  poise,  fitting  them  for  mingling  on  even  terms 
with  the  world's  best.  Whether  the  repast  be  simple 
or  elaborate,  its  viands  should  be  carefully  selected  and 
apportioned  to  the  gratification  of  normal  appetites, 
since  the  condition  of  the  digestive  apparatus  is  a  mat- 
ter of  prime  importance ;  and  the  direction  of  the  mind 
into  pleasant  channels  is  quite  as  essential  to  perfect 
digestion  as  wholesome  foods.  How  frugal  soever 
the  refection,  it  should  be  an  occasion  of  cheerful  and 
intimate  intercourse,  a  sybaritic  feast.  The  sybarite 
is  not  necessarily  he  who  feasts  elaborately,  but  he  who 


feasts  well.  Whether  two  or  more  be  seated  at  the 
frugal  table  of  an  Epicurus  or  £in  assemblage  be  atten- 
dant at  the  royal  feast  of  a  Lucullus,  it  is  the  com- 
mingling of  genial  and  congenial  souls  which  distin- 
guishes the  sybaritic  character  of  the  entertainment. 

The  table  of  the  ideal  sybarite,  Epicurus,  was  itself 
ideal,  although  of  exceeding  simplicity  as  to  viands, 
the  food  consisting  chiefly  of  porridge  and  barley 
bread,  the  drink  being  water  or  wine,  of  which  latter 
a  half-pint  was  considered  a  sufficiency  for  each  par- 
ticipant ;  and  the  conversation  was  directed  to  pleasant 
themes,  the  immediate  and  the  ultimate  purpose  here, 
as  throughout  the  Master's  teachings,  being  the  attain- 
ment of  pleasure  of  body  and  mind,  with  mental  pleas- 
ures ever  uppermost.  Excepting  Jesus  and  the  Bud- 
dah,  no  teacher  has  ever  exercised  so  healthful  or  so 
potent  an  influence  for  right-living  as  Epicurus  the 
Sybarite,  and  his  doctrines  and  methods  appeal  to  the 
instincts  of  all  normal  minds. 

He  who  ignores  the  obvious  truths  here  adverted  to, 
he  who  lightly  esteems  the  benefits  of  the  possession 


49 


50 
of  the  sybaritic  spirit,  is  grievously  in  error,  and  want- 
ing in  a  perception  of  his  own  highest  interests,  and 
of  the  unquestionable  fact  that  by  self-perfection  and 
through  his  contributions  to  the  happiness  of  others 
his  own  welfare  and  happiness  are  best  secured;  and 
that  only  by  keeping  primarily  in  view  service  to  others 
may  one  make  his  soul  enjoy  good  in  his  labor. 

Love  thyself  first.     If  thy  stern  soul  applaud 
Thy  every  act  and  thought,  if  prize  nor  rod 

Nor  love  nor  hate  thy  constant  will  can  swerve, 
Thou  hast  attained  the  stature  of  a  god. 
Serve  thyself  last.     Thy  every  thought  and  deed 
Fraught  with  the  burden  of  another's  need. 

His  weal,  his  happiness,  shall  win  for  thee 
A  world  of  wealth,  beyond  the  grasp  of  greed. 

Man's  keenest  and  most  satisfying  pleasures  are  de- 
rived from  his  work,  from  congenial  active  and  pro- 
gressive labors.  But  unremitting  labor  is  preju- 
dicial to  health  and  enjoyment,  and  is  not  productive  of 
the  most  effective  results.  Rest  and  change  are  neces- 
ary  to  the  highest  development  of  efficiency;  and  in 
the  daily  periods  of  relaxation  nothing  so  conduces  to 
the  preservation  of  the  capacity  for  work  as  the  pleas- 


51 
ures  of  the  table,  blest  with  wholesome  foods,  whole- 
some companionship  and  wholesome  intercourse,  in 
which  business,  as  business,  has  no  part. 

The  present-day  vogue  of  FitzGerald's  Omar,  then, 
may  justly  be  attributed  to  the  fact  that  he  has  caught 
and  in  pleasing  fashion  brought  home  to  the  many  the 
true  spirit  of  Epicurean  sybaritism.  Nowhere  have  the 
beautifully  and  succinctly  expressed  sentiments  of  the 
grand  old  Persian  permeated  more  deeply  than  into 
the  hearts  and  minds  of  the  select  congenial  congerie 
composing  the  Omar  Kha3ryam  Club  of  America.  No- 
where is  he  more  beloved  and  honored ;  and  we  may 
well  and  fittingly  voice  our  appreciation  of  the  ancient 
sage  and  the  greatest  of  his  modem  interpreters,  with 
enthusiastic  accord. 

Blest  be  thy  manes,  English  FitzGerald,  philosopher 
and  poet,  who  hath  infused  into  the  most  admirable 
and  the  most  admired  stanzas  of  the  literature  of  our 
time  the  exquisite  spirit  of  Omar!  Revered  be  thy 
memory,  Persian  Omar,  philosopher,  poet,  astrono- 
mer, mathematician;  and  all  hail  to  thee,  Omar,  genial, 
gentle  sybarite! 


52 


PROFESSOR  CHARLES  ROCKWELL  LANMAN. 
Vice-President. 


53 


SUPPLICATION  IN  TIME  OF  WAR 

By  Henry  Harmon  Chamberlin 
Read  at  the  session  of  April  3,   1920 

We  who  have  loitered  in  the  paths  of  ease, 
Waken  us  all,  O  Lord,  to  the  World's  need  I 
Even  as  men,  of  Thee  who  took  no  heed. 

On  some  far  isle,  begirt  with  slumbrous  seas. 

Long  years  we  dreamed.     For  this,  our  sons  must  bleed. 

Because  we  loitered  in  the  paths  of  ease. 

Fondly  we  dreamed  of  Earth's  eternal  peace. 
To  our  dull  ears,  the  whisperings  of  War 
Came  like  a  fierce  old  legend,  faint  and  far. 

We  dreamed  of  wealth  and  comfort,  to  release 
Our  souls  from  Fate,  and  Valor's  guiding  star; 

Because  we  loitered  in  the  paths  of  ease. 

We   dreamed    that  Time   would   change  and  Strife   would 
ceaise. 
And  fair,  soft  words  beguile  a  tyrant's  hate. 


54 


Thy  thunderbolt  awoke  us,  not  too  late 
To  fight  for  Freedom  and  Thy  Word.     For  these 

Our  sires  had  fought  and  made  our  nation  great; 
But  we  have  loitered  in  the  paths  of  ease. 

Kindle  our  souls,  that  zeal  for  Thee  increstse. 
So,  that,  in  words  of  flame,  our  souls  may  see 
Thy  truth  and  we  may  win  Thy  victory! 

Oh  I  make  us  worthier  of  a  nobler  peace. 

Whereby  our  children,  brave  and  wise  and  free. 

No  more  shall  loiter  in  the  paths  of  ease. 


55 


QMK  KHl&fm  CLUB 

orianERicTi 


pftyfJ 


56 


AN   INTERESTING  LETTER 

One  day  in  the  year  1 845  Edward  FitzGerald  was 
visiting  in  Woodbridge,  his  lifelong  friend,  Bernard 
Barton,  the  Quaker  poet,  whose  daughter  Lucy  some 
eleven  years  later,  seven  years  after  the  death  of  Bar- 
ton became  FitzGerald's  wife.  The  two  friends 
learned  that  another  common  and  intimate  friend, 
Rev.  George  Crabbe  (1785-1857)  of  Bredfield  (two 
miles  from  Woodbridge)  had  been  in  town  on  busi- 
ness, and  in  a  spirit  of  mischief  agreed  to  call  him  to 
account  for  not  calling  on  them,  by  sending  him  a 
letter,  of  which  a  photogravure  f  ac-simile  accompanies 
this.  It  may  be  recalled  that  FitzGerald  edited  and 
published  in  his  later  years  Crabbe's  "Tales  of  the 
Hair*  and  "Readings  in  Crabbe"  written  by  the  recipi- 
ent's father.  Rev.  George  Crabbe  (1754-1832)  a  fa- 
mous poet,  loved  by  both  Barton  and  FitzGerald, 
with  a  love  that  embraced  also  the  grandson,  Rev. 
George  Crabbe   (1819-1884).      This  grandson  was 


57 
one  of  the  executors  of  FitzGerald,  and  it  was  in  his 
house  that  FitzGerald  died  in  1 883.  The  whimsical 
character  of  Barton's  indictment  is  well  worthy  of 
notice,  but  when  to  this  is  added  the  quaint  protest 
of  FitzGerald,  containing  seven  of  his  signatures  on 
a  single  sheet,  the  epistle  becomes  practically  unique 
in  literature. 


58 

The  letter — Barton  to  Crabbe 

Woodbridge,  October  2,  1845. 
My  dear  friend: 

Now  was  I  not  quite  right  in  setting  thee  down  for  a 
very  proud  man?  Thy  resolute  and  dignified  silence  con- 
firms it — ^it  is  in  fact  allowing  judgment  to  go  by  default. 
In  my  former  charge  against  thee  on  this  score  I  preferred 
an  indictment  on  only  one  count — I  must  now  add  another. 
One  of  my  fellow  townsmen  said  to  me  the  other  day,  "1 
suppose  Mr.  Crabbe  often  calls  on  you,  as  I  not  infrequently 
see  him  in  Woodbridge?"  I  knew  I  had  received  no  such 
calls  but  did  not  choose  to  tell  my  neighbor  so,  lest  he 
should  think  I  had  lost  caste  with  the  clergy  and  gentry 
around — so  I  replied  in  a  sort  of  worried  confusion  "Of 
course,  of  course!" — ^but  my  heart  rather  smote  me  for 
the  response,  as  being  unquakerly  for  by  my  faith  it  smack* d 
more  of  vanity  than  of  veracity.  I  don't  tell  another  such 
a  fib,  even  to  save  thy  character  for  courtesy,  or  mine  for 
respectability.  But  Quaker  as  I  am  I  do  not  wish  to  be 
set  down  by  my  neighbors  as  cut  off  from  all  benefit  of 
clergy,  so  the  temptation  to  a  slight  deviation  from  truth 
was  irresistable. 


59 
Well,  now  thou  art  indicted  on  two  separate  &  sev- 
eral counts  of  being  chargeable  with  pride — and,  making 
no  attempt  at  disguise  or  denial,  I  must  conclude  the  accu- 
sation is  admitted  as  true!  the  penance  I  adjudge  is  a  Note 
from  thee  every  day  or  two,  and  a  call  once  a  week — if  this 
be  not  promptly  performed  I  shall  have  to  serve  thee  down 
for  a  dinner,  so  pray  come  down  handsomely  without  tap 
of  time — for  the  longer  some  sort  of  "amende  honorable" 
is  delayed  the  heavier  will  be  its  infliction.  After  all  I 
am  not  sure  thou  hast  not  as  good  a  right  to  be  a  Proud 
Man,  as  any  one  on  the  list  of  my  acquaintance — Art  thou 
not  thy  Father's  Son?  and  is  not  that  something  to  be 
proud  of?  Thou  seest  1  am  willing  to  make  all  reasonable 
allowances — and  even  invent  the  best  possible  excuse  I 
can  for  this  sin  which  so  easily  besets  us  all.  We  all  of 
us  have,  in  turn,  a  touch  of  that  same.  Let  him  that  is 
utterly  void  of  this  sin,  cast  the  first  stone — it  will  not  be 
cast  by  me,  I  can  promise  thee — for  I  honestly  plead  guilty 
to  the  charge — I  am  very  proud  of  my  Portrait  of  Evelyn! 
not  the  less  so  for  thy  railing  at  it;  perhaps  all  the  prouder, 
because  I  pity  thee  for  not  having  a  better  taste,  and  when 
a  Man  can  think  of  a  valued  &  respected  Friend  with  pity, 
pride  grows  upon  him,  apace — then  have  I  not  just  printed 


60 
a  Book  &  dedicated  it  to  the  Queen,  and  has  not  her 
Majesty,  as  I  am  told,  graciously  accepted  the  same — May 
I  not  be  a  little  proud  on  that  score — and  heis  not  my 
Marquis  just  sent  me  a  Note  lauding  said  Book,  and  especi- 
ally the  Verses  on  Crabbe's  Cottage,  therein?  Go  to!  if 
thou  wilt,  be  a  proud  Man — I  will  try  if  I  can't  too — and 
we  will  have  a  regular  contest  to  see  which  of  the  twain  can 
be  the  proudest. 

Thine  with  proud  humility, 

B.   B. 

Mr.  E.  FitzGerald  presents  his  Compt's  to  Mr.  Crabbe, 
&  begs  to  inform  him  that  he,  (Mr.  Edward  Fitz-Gerald) 
is  now^  at  Woodbridge,  &  will  be  glad  to  know  when  he 
(Mr.  Crabbe)  can  answer  to  the  charge  brought  by  Mr. 
Barton  against  him  (Mr.  Crabbe.)  He  (Mr.  FitzGerald) 
thinks  that  he  (Mr.  Crabbe)  is  quite  amenable  to  the  charge 
so  stated  by  him  (Mr.  Barton).  He  (Mr.  FitzGerald)  now 
writes  in  his  (Mr.  Barton's)  house,  where  he  (Mr.  Fitz- 
Gerald) proposes  to  spend  the  night;  a  thing  which  he 
(Mr.  FitzGerald)  never  did  in  his  (Mr.  Crabbe's)  house, 
&  he  (Mr.  FitzGerald)  does  not  know  if  he  (Mr.  Ditto) 
ever  shall. 


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65 


SOME  CLUB  MENUS. 


66 


THE  PRICE 

By  Henry  Harmon  Chamberlin 
Read  at  the  session  of  March  31,  1917 

Not  only  mourn  the  brave  who  died  at  mom, 
Who  struck  their  blow  and  perished  in  their  pride. 
But  mourn  those  other  lives  who  also  died, 
Vain  hopes  of  generations  yet  unborn. 
Nor  mourn  the  stricken  children  bayonet  torn, 
Shell  driven  o'er  the  blazing  countryside ; 
But  mourn  Man's  twilight  and  his  eventide. 
And  Brotherhood  betrayed,  and  Faith  forsworn. 
Yea,  chiefly  mourn  the  most  heartrending  cost. 
Two  thousand  years*  slow  progress  spent  and  lost, 
This  goodly  oak  cut  down  as  by  a  sword. 
Brother  of  Death,  Sin's  crowned  and  armed  birth. 
How  long  shall  this  new  Anarch  reign  on  earth, 
Unsmitten  of  Thy  thunderbolt,  O  Lord? 


67 


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66 


HOW  FORTUNATE 

(Now  that  we  have  Prohibition) 

"Are  you  fond  of  Khayyam?"    "If  you  please 
Sauteme  with  me  better  agrees." 
"You  astonish  me  so,"  said  the  host,  "Don't  you  know 
That  Kha3ryam's  not  a  wine?     It's  a  CHEESE  1" 


69 


DR.  WILLIAM  EDWARD  STORY. 


70 
OMAR  AS  A  MATHEMATICIAN 

By  Dr.  William  Edward  Story, 

Professor  of  Mathematics  at  Clark  University, 

Worcester,  Mass. 

Read  at  the  session  of  April  6,  1918. 

It  seems  to  be  commonly  assumed  that  Omar  was 
by  profession  an  astronomer  and  that  with  him  pure 
mathematics  was  only  a  side  issue.  But  it  should  be 
observed  that  all  the  earlier  philosophers  were,  as  the 
name  "philosopher"  implies,  lovers  of  learning  of  all 
kinds;  such  a  lover  of  learning  Omar,  indeed,  seems 
to  have  been.  The  true  philosopher  takes  the  greatest 
pleasure  in  those  forms  of  intellectual  activity, — ^with- 
in the  field  in  which  his  natural  talents  and  education 
fit  him  to  work,  of  course, — that  present  the  greatest 
difficulties.  But  the  numbers  of  those  to  whom  the 
results  of  these  activities  are  intelligible  are,  in  gen- 
eral, inversely  proportional  to  the  difficulties  of  ob- 
taining them.    Thus  it  comes  about  that  many  of  the 


71 
old  philosophers  are  best  known  by  those  of  their 
works  in  which  they  themselves  did  not  take  the  great- 
est interest.  Thales,  the  first  of  the  Greek  philoso- 
phers, the  first  of  the  "seven  wise  men"  of  Greece, 
was  also  the  first  Greek  mathematician.  Aristotle  was 
a  physicist,  but  he  was  also  the  first  to  enunciate  the 
principle  of  continuity  by  the  introduction  of  the  idea 
of  an  "infinitesimal,"  which  idea  was  developed  by 
Cavalieri,  Kepler,  and  others,  and  led,  finally,  in  the 
hands  of  Leibnitz  and  Newton,  to  the  invention  of 
the  infinitesimal  calculus.  Plato  was  a  zealous  pro- 
moter of  mathematics  among  the  Greeks.  Archi- 
medes, although  a  physicist,  was  called  by  his  imme- 
diate successors  the  "great  mathematician."  Kepler 
was  a  mathematician  as  well  as  an  astronomer.  Fi- 
nally, Descartes,  Leibnitz  and  Newton  were  pre-emi- 
nently mathematicians;  in  fact,  from  a  certain  point 
of  view,  I  should  be  inclined  to  consider  Descartes  the 
greatest  mathematician  that  ever  lived. 

I  have  said  nothing  of  those  who  are  known  only 
as  mathematicians  and,  I  may  sJmost  say,  are  known 


72 
only  to  mathematicians.  My  object  has  been  to  lay 
the  foundation  for  my  opinion  that  Omar  was  prob- 
ably above  all  a  pure  mathematician.  The  distinction 
that  is  commonly  made  between  pure  and  applied 
mathematics  is  somewhat  inconsistent.  Applied  ma- 
thematics is  not  a  branch  of  learning.  It  is  mathema- 
tics as  applied  to  practical  purposes.  The  only  con- 
ceivable reason  for  distinguishing  it  from  so-called 
pure  mathematics  is  that  the  concepts  to  which  the 
application  is  made  are  more  or  less  necessarily  asso- 
ciated with  other  concepts  to  which  mathematics  is 
not  applicable.  There  is  but  one  mathematics,  namely, 
pure  mathematics,  which,  however,  has  many  forms. 
Most  forms  or  branches  of  mathematics  have  practical 
applications.  Gauss,  called  by  his  contempories 
"princeps  mathematicorum,"  himself  an  astronomer 
by  profession,  praised  the  theory  of  numbers  as  having 
one  great  advantage  over  all  other  branches  of  mathe- 
matics in  that  it  had  no  conceivable  application  to 
practical  purposes. 


73 


_    l^oluler  palajce  ffiat  to  hea\feii  tokened  ,  __ , 
it^^^re  forehedd  bou)ed  lo  tliiie5lioldBuig;3l^ 

^  iillill  <.:nhVA   rlnx/p  tti  jnt^  nvi  it<  l-intHomoiifi%  J 


5cU\)  d  do\)e  tKat  on  il3  baltienieixB  a- 


fK 


i|iliLi5'flc<),kx),kDor'  Iphere  are  tKetiiiou)? 


QUATRAIN  FROM  "THE  ROSE  GARDEN  OF  OMAR  KHAYYAM." 
Translated  from  the  Persian  by  Eben  Francis  Thompson.     Illuminated  by  H.  H.  R.  Thompson. 


74 
The  only  mathematical  work  of  Omar  with  which 
we  are  acquainted  is  his  "algebra.**  Algebra  is  the 
"soul"  of  modem  mathematics;  in  its  original  form 
it  is  that  branch  of  mathematics  that  deals  with  un- 
known numbers.  The  name  algebra  is  derived  from 
"al  gibr  w'al  mukhabala"  the  title  of  every  Saracen 
work  on  the  subject  since  the  time  of  Abu  Jafar  Mu- 
hammed  ibn  Musa  al  Khwarizmi  (circa  A.D.  825), 
who  was  long  supposed  to  have  invented  the  subject. 
But  we  now  know  that  Al  Khwarizmi's  work  is  simply 
a  translation  of  the  "Greek"  of  Diophantos  of  Alex- 
andria (circa  A.D.  275).  Omar  was  one  of  a  long 
series  of  Saracen  algebraists  who  followed  more  or  less 
closely  in  the  track  of  Diophantos  and  Al  Kwarizmi. 
Woepcke,  in  his  French  translation  of  Omar's  algebra, 
finds  in  it  traces  of  the  influence  of  Diophantos,  but, 
he  says,  "these  are  found  also  in  Muhammed  ibn  Mou- 
sa,  and  there  exists  no  historical  datum  that  proves 
that  at  the  time  of  this  algebraist  Diophantos  was 
known  to  the  Arabs."     But  we  know  better  now. 


75 

In  algebra  as  the  science  of  unknown  numbers,  it 
is  necessary  to  have  some  method  of  designating  the 
unknown  in  any  particular  question,  as  well  as  its 
positive  and  negative  powers.  Diophantos  used  sym- 
bols to  represent  these,  but  his  symbols  are  simply 
abbreviations  of  the  names  by  which  he  called  the  cor- 
responding numbers  and  in  the  text  stand  for  these 
names  rather  than  for  the  numbers.  The  Saracen 
mathematicians,  including  Omar,  adopted  translations 
of  Diophantos's  names  and  got  along  without  symbols. 
Thus  Omar  gives  a  certain  equation  as  "a  cube  and 
squares  are  equal  to  roots  and  a  number,"  i.e.  x^  + 
ax^  =  bx  +  c.  He  calls  the  successive  positive  powers 
of  the  unknown  "root"  or  "side,"  "square,"  "cube," 
"square-square,"  "square-cube,"  "cube-cube,"  etc.  and 
the  successive  negative  powers  (reciprocals  of  the  posi- 
tive powers)  "part  of  root,"  "part  of  square,"  etc.,  as 
Diophantos  did.  But  all  Omar's  demonstrations  are 
given  in  geometrical  form,  which  was  the  standard 
form  among  the  Greeks;  in  fact,  the  very  names  we 
have  mentioned  are  borrowed  from  geometry.    More- 


76 


SOME  PERSIAN  MANUSCRIPTS. 
The  Rubdiydt  of  Omar  Khayydm. 


77 
over,  Omar  solves  his  equations  by  means  of  the  inter- 
sections of  conic  sections;  that  is,  he  solves  a  typical 
form  of  the  equation  under  consideration  in  this  way 
and  then  modifies  the  solution  to  suit  the  particular 
equation.  He  is  very  systematic  throughout,  prefac- 
ing each  section  by  such  lemmas  as  he  will  have  to  use. 
Omar's  greatest  original  contribution  to  algebra  is 
the  complete  classiification  of  the  cubic  equation,  a 
classification  that  he  recognizes  as  applicable  to  equa- 
tions of  every  degree.  He  believed  that  cubic  equa- 
tions could  not  be  solved  by  calculation,  but  that  one 
must  be  satisfied  with  the  construction  of  solutions 
by  intersecting  conies.  In  the  discussion  of  the  several 
classes  he  sometimes  overlooks  particulzir  cases.  Thus, 
he  fails  to  see  that  an  equation  of  the  form  x^  +  bx  = 
ax^  +  c  may  have  three  positive  real  roots.  Again, 
he  lost  many  roots  by  using  only  one  branch  of  an 
hyperbola  in  his  construction.  And  he  was  not  very 
exact  in  the  investigation  of  the  numerical  values  that 
the  several  coefficients  must  have  in  order  that  the 
equation  of  one  or  other  type  should  give  real  inter- 


78 
sections  of  the  conies.  He  considered  biquadratic 
equations  to  be  unsolvable  by  geometric  constructions. 

But  these  faults  are  of  little  consequence  in  compari- 
son with  the  remarkably  great  advance  Omar  made  in 
algebra  by  treating  equations  of  degree  higher  than 
the  second,  and  by  having  classified  them.  He  was 
the  only  mathematician  of  any  nation  before  1,100 
who  distinguished  trinomial  cubic  equations  from  tet- 
ranomial,  forming  two  groups  of  the  former  according 
as  the  term  of  the  2nd  or  1  st  degree  was  wanting,  and 
two  groups  of  the  latter  according  as  the  sum  of  3 
terms  was  equal  to  one  term  or  the  sum  of  2  terms 
equal  to  the  sum  of  two  others. 

Apparently,  also,  he  considered  the  binomial  theo- 
rem for  positive  integral  exponents.  He  says:  "I 
have  taught  how  to  find  the  sides  of  the  square-square, 
of  the  square-cube,  of  the  cube-cube,  etc.  to  any  extent, 
which  no  one  had  previously  done."  This  theorem  he 
used,  apparently,  for  the  purpose  of  extracting  roots 
after  the  manner  of  the  Hindus.  Omar  incidentally 
solved  the  geometrical  problem ;  to  construct  an  equi- 


79 


FiuGerald's  Cottage  at  Boulge.   (From  an  original  water  color  by  Edward  FilzGerald.) 


Rose  leaves  from  the  grave  o(  Omar  Khayydm. 
Brought  from  Persia  by  Prof.  A.  V.  W.  Jackson. 


80 
lateral  trapezoid  whose  base  and  sides  are  of  the  same 
given  length  and  whose  area  is  given, — ^a  problem  that 
he  reduced  to  the  solution  of  the  equation  x*  +  bx  = 
ax^  +  c. 

In  the  year  1 079  Omar  corrected  the  calendar.  He 
grouped  the  yecirs  in  cycles  of  33  years  each,  giving 
each  common  year  365  days  and  making  every  fourth 
year  a  leap-year  of  366  days  throughout  each  cycle; 
that  is,  each  cycle  of  33  years  contained  8  leap-years 
and  there  was  an  interval  of  5  years  from  the  begin- 
ning of  the  last  leap-year  of  any  cycle  to  the  beginning 
of  the  first  leap-year  of  the  next  cycle.  This  makes 
the  average  length  of  Omar's  solar  year  365'*  5^  49™ 
5^.45,  which  is  less  by  6.55  seconds  than  the  average 
length  of  the  Gregorian  year.  According  to  the  best 
modem  calculations,  the  Gregorian  average  year  is 
too  long  by  25.557  seconds  and  Omar's  average  year 
is  too  long  by  only  1 9.007  seconds.  That  is,  one  leap- 
year  ought  to  be  omitted  from  Omar's  calendar  every 
4545  years,  whereas  the  Gregorian  calendeur  ought  to 
omit  one  leap-year  every  338 1  years.    This  means  that 


61 
Omar's  calendar  was  one-third  more  accurate  than 
the  calendar  we  use  today.  However,  all  people  that 
use  the  solar  year  would  probably  find  it  more  con- 
venient to  omit  three  leap-years  out  of  400  years  than 
to  group  the  years  in  cycles  of  33. 

All  things  considered,  1  am  inclined  to  think  that 
Omar  Khayyam  was  the  most  original  and,  therefore, 
the  greatest  of  the  Saracen  mathematicians. 


.^2 


ROSEMARY  PRESS  MINIATURE  EDIT  IONS  OF  THE  RUBAIYAT. 

At  top :  Club  edition  in  red  morocco  with  jewel  (lapis  lazuli). 

Left  middle :        Club  edition  in  white  vellum. 

Left  bottom :       "American  Oriental  Society"  edition.     (Dedicated  to  Prof.  Charles  R.  Lanman  of  Harvard  and  Prof.  A.  V.   W.  Jackson 

of  Columbia);  with  jewel  (jade). 
Right  middle:     "Class  of  78"    University  of  California  edition;  with  jewel  (garnet). 
Right  bottom:     "University  of  California  Club  of  New  England"  edition.      Blue  and  gold. 


83 


ON  A  PIECE  OF  VELLUM 

Only  a  square  bit  of  vellum,  a  dressed  skin  of  a  goat 
that  over  a  hundred  years  ago  may  have  looked  down 
from  the  heights  over  the  Vale  of  Kashmir,  that  ex- 
quisitely beautiful  summer  retreat  of  Akbar  the  Great, 
greatest  ruler,  wisest  statesman,  bravest  soldier  of  all 
the  Mogul  Emperors  of  India.  Only  a  bit  of  finished 
vellum,  illuminated  with  scrolls  and  borders  surround- 
ing a  message  in  delicate  Script,  yet  but  for  this  bit  of 
skin  and  the  century-old  writing  on  it,  in  all  probability 
Edward  FitzGerald  would  never  have  known  of  the 
Rubaiyat  of  Omcir  Khayyam,  would  never  have  trans- 
lated them  into  a  masterpiece  of  English;  Elihu  Ved- 
der  would  never  have  drawn  his  marvelous  illustra- 
tions, a  masterpiece  of  design ;  John  Hay  would  never 
have  given  the  world  a  masterpiece  of  English  prose 
in  his  address  before  the  Omar  Khayyam  Club  of  Lon- 
don, nor  would  the  world  have  yet  known  aught  of 
Omai  or  of  the  countless  translations  into  other  Ian- 


84 
guages  and  their  delightful  illustrations  by  so  many 
famous  artists  that  it  now  possesses. 

For  this  vellum  manuscript  contains  the  Commis- 
sion given  in  1810  by  King  George  III  to  Sir  Gore 
Ouseley  as  Ambassador  to  Persia.  It  was  through  Sir 
Gore's  scholarly  research  and  generosity  that  knowl- 
edge of  Omar  reached  the  English  World.  Sir  Gore 
was  an  accomplished  Persian  scholar,  and  his  brother, 
William,  wrote  several  books  describing  their  travels 
and  researches  in  Persia.  Sir  Gore  collected  a  large 
number  of  Persian  manuscripts,  particularly  of  ancient 
Persian  poetry,  many  of  the  rolls  being  illuminated  by 
Persian  artists.  This  unique  and  most  valuable  col- 
lection was  presented  by  Sir  Gore  on  his  return  to  Eng- 
land to  his  alma  mater,  Oxford,  and  became  a  part  of 
the  Bodleian  Library.  In  1 846  he  published  a  book  of 
Persian  Poetry  containing  a  translation  of  six  quat- 
rains of  Omar.  Here  years  after,  Prof.  Eldward  Byles 
Cowell,  rummaging  among  the  fascinating  rolls 
of  the  Ouseley  Collection,  was  attracted  by  the  unusual 
splendor  of  the  illumination  on  a  manuscript,  leading 


85 

him  to  wonder  what  author  had  been  so  highly  valued. 
This  contained  the  Rubaiyat  of  Omar.  He  translated 
some  of  the  quatrains  and,  struck  by  their  unusual 
merit,  called  FitzGerald's  attention  to  them.  Cowell 
himself  soon  went  to  Calcutta  where  he  ran  across  a 
somewhat  different  manuscript  of  Omar  which  he  re- 
viewed in  the  Calcutta  Review  of  March,  1858. 
FitzGerald  published  his  first  edition  of  the  Rubaiyat 
of  Omar  Khayyam  in  1859. 

Today  this  bit  of  vellum,  so  interesting  for  the  train 
of  circumstances  that  followed  it,  reposes  side  by  side, 
here  in  Boston,  with  a  rare  copy  of  the  Calcutta  Re- 
view of  March,  1858,  Ouseley's  Persian  Literature, 
FitzGerald's  1st,  2nd,  3rd  and  4th  Editions,  Vedder*s 
de  luxe  drawings.  Hay's  address,  Eldward  Heron 
Allen's  book  containing  a  facsimile  of  the  Bodleian 
Manuscript,  a  rare  copy  of  the  Calcutta  Manuscript  of 
Prof.  Cowell's  and,  in  addition,  hundreds  of  less  im- 
portant editions. 

Illustrations  of  the  Commission  and  its  full  text  will 
be  found  within. 


J 


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87 


Text  of  Commission  from  King  George  III  to  Sir  Gore 
Ouseley  as  Ambassador  to  Persia,    1810. 


Sir,  My  Cousin.  I  have  received  Your  Royal  Highness's 
kind  Letter  from  Tabriz  on  the  subject  of  Captain  Paisley's 
arrival  at  Abushhest,  and  the  possible  injury  both  States 
might  sustain  from  the  supercession  of  Sir  Harford  Jones 
by  an  Envoy  from  the  Governor  General  of  India.  I  de- 
rive great  satisfaction  from  this  demonstration  of  Your 
Royal  Highness's  Friendship  and  Regard  for  My  Wel- 
fare.— Mirza  Abul  Hassan  has  no  doubt  long  since  in- 
formed Your  Royal  Highness  how  truly  I  lament  the  un- 
fortunate circumstances  which  have  occurred  with  respect 
to  Our  Royal  Mission  to  the  Court  of  Taehran.  These 
Events  have  originated  in  error  and  misapprehension :  I  have 
employed  every  effort  to  prevent  the  recurrence  of  such 
Misfortunes.  Accordingly  I  have  appointed  an  Ambassa- 
dor Elxtraordinary  and  Plenipotentiary  directly  from  My- 
self to  the  King  of  Persia.  My  Ambassador  will  be  re- 
sponsible to  this  Government  for  his  conduct  and  altho'  di- 
rected to  co-operate  with  the  Executive  Government  of 
India  so  far  as  His  own  Judgment  and  His  instructions  from 
My  Ministers  will  warrant  he  will  not  however  be  in  any 
manner  under  the  control  of  the   Indian  Government. — I 


86 


Commission  of  Sir  Gore  Ouseley  as  Ambassador  from  Great  Biitain  to  Persia,  1810. 


89 
have  selected  for  the  situation  of  Ambsissador  at  the  Court 
of  Taehran  My  Trusty  and  well  beloved  Sir  Gore  Ouseley, 
Baronet,  a  Gentleman  whose  Knowledge  of  your  Language, 
Customs  and  Manners  peculiarly  qualify  Him  for  that  ap- 
pointment and  whose  Conduct  and  Character  entitle  Him 
to  general  respect  and  consideration. — Having  the  fullest 
confidence  in  My  Ambassador's  Judgement  and  Discretion, 
I  trust  that  the  first  Intelligence  I  shall  have  the  pleasure  of 
receiving  from  Your  Royal  Highness  after  the  arrival  of 
My  Ambassador  at  Persia,  will  apprise  Me  of  the  renewal 
of  that  Harmony  which  I  hope  will  subsist  for  Ever  be- 
tween the  States  of  Persia  and  Great  Britain. — I  pray  God 
to  take  Your  Royal  Highness  into  His  best  Care  and  Pro- 
tection. I  am  with  every  Sentiment  of  Affection  and 
Esteem, 

Sir,  My  Cousin 

Your  Good  Cousin 

George  R. 
At  My  Royal  Castle 

at  Windsor  11  th  July  1810 


90 


CHARLES  DANA  BURRAGE. 
Secretary  and  Treasurer. 


9! 


THE  MESSAGE  OF  OMAR  KHAYYAM 
By  Charles  Dana  Burrage 

Read  at  the  session  of  April  1 ,   1911 

When  on  an  autumn  afternoon,  some  thirty  years 
ago,  lying  in  luxurious  ease  on  a  California  hillside, 
sheltered  by  a  live  oak  from  the  heat  of  the  Occidental 
sun  swinging  low  above  the  Golden  Gate,  I  first  heeird 
read  aloud  selections  from  the  second  edition  of  Fitz- 
Gerald's  Rubaiyat  of  Omar  Kha3ryam,  that  a  college 
mate  had  just  brought  from  London,  on  his  return 
from  his  summer  vacation,  it  seemed  to  me  a  vista  of 
entrancing  beauties  opened  in  a  hitherto  unknown 
paradise  of  Oriental  literature. 

On  only  two  other  occasions  in  my  life  have  I  felt 
such  thrills  of  intellectual  pleaisure  as  then.  Once  was 
when  Canon  Charles  Kingsley  talked  to  us  college 
boys  of  California,  he  uncouth  and  awkward,  but  the 
words  of  "English  undefiled,"  of  pure  Anglo-Saxon 
origin,  that  he  selected  for  our  benefit,  not  one  being 


92 
of  Latin  or  other  foreign  derivation,  so  charmed  and 
delighted  us  that  we  forgot  everything  but  the  exqui- 
site pleasure  in  the  music  of  his  language. 

The  other  time  to  which  I  refer  is  a  similar  address 
on  English  Literature  given  by  Prof.  Edward  Rowland 
Sill,  which  was  also  all  in  words  of  Anglo-Saxon  origin, 
and  the  delicate  harmonies  of  that  divine  message  still 
linger  in  my  soul. 

On  that  day  I  gave  my  life's  devotion  unreservedly 
to  Omar  and  FitzGerald,  and  from  that  time  to  this 
have  daily  placed  fresh  flowers  of  tribute  on  their  altar 
in  my  heart. 

Years  afterward  I  met  and  learned  to  esteem,  and 
regard,  with  more  than  ordinary  affection,  the  mem- 
bers of  this  little  Club  who  meet  once  each  year  to 
drink  a  toast  to  Edward  FitzGerald. 

Today  we  unite  again  in  our  loving,  grateful  cere- 
mony, in  memory  of  one  who  made  this  old  world 
better  by  the  creation  of  new  beauties, 

"One  who  touched  his  haxp,  unseen." 

Michael  Kerney. 


93 
We  have  all  heard  criticisms,  bom  of  ill-nature  and 
ignorance,  of  Omar  as  an  infidel — the  exponent  of  a 
philosophy  founded  on  selfishness ;  on  supreme  regard 
for  the  pleasures  of  the  body  in  love  and  wine;  on 
contempt  for  the  denial  of  a  hereafter  beyond  this  life ; 
of  exaltation  for  the  mass  at  the  expense  of  the  indi- 
vidual. As  one  of  these  has  said  lately:  "It  cannot 
be  denied  that  the  poem  is  a  great  work  of  art,  but  it 
is  perhaps  the  most  evil  work  of  art  that  the  world 
has  ever  seen." 

As  the  great  sober  sense  of  the  world  has  ever 
said:  "Evil  to  him  who  evil  thinks."  As,  to  the  liber- 
tine, every  woman  has  in  his  mind  some  moment  of 
supreme  weakness;  to  the  politician,  every  man  his 
price,  so  this  kind  of  verdict  has  many  times  been  ren- 
dered as  to  the  Bible,  distorting  and  misreading  the 
record  of  man's  own  depravity  to  justify  the  condem- 
nation. We  who  know  and  love  Omar  and  his  soul- 
interpreter,  FitzGerald,  know  that  no  one  can  read 
the  quatrains  and  extract  evil  from  them ;  rather  that 
they  recur  to  the  lips  involuntarily  in  time  of  great 


94 

tribulation,  even  as  the  glorious  resounding  periods  of 
the  Ejiglish  version  of  the  Scriptures  came  to  the 
strong  men  of  the  olden  times  in  the  stress  of  dreadful 
persecution. 

One  valued  friend  has  inscribed  upon  the  memorial 
to  a  beloved  wife,  untimely  separated  from  the  enjoy- 
ment of  life's  greatest  blessings,  these  lines  from  his 

own  translation. 

"Though  creeds  some  two  and  seventy  there  be. 
The  best  of  creeds,  I  hold,  is  love  of  thee."  * 

What  purer  and  more  tender  tribute  could  ever  lie 
in  the  heart  of  man  or  break  forth  from  him  sorrowing 
and  mourning? 

What  more  appealing  cry  to  the  savage,  uncon- 
quered,  defiant  soul  of  man,  the  mortal  image  of  the 
Almighty,  than  the  following  quatrain,  a  brave  utter- 
ance, breathing  the  essence  of  life's  long  and  courag- 
eous endurance? 

"So  when  the  Angel  of  the  darker  Drink, 
At  last  shall  find  you  by  the  river-brink. 
And,  oflFering  his  Cup,  invite  your  Soul 
Forth  to  your  lips  to  quaff — ^you  shall  not  shrink." 

*Eben  Francis  Thompson  in  his  Complete  Translation  of  all  the 
Quatrains  attributed  to  Omar  Khaysram. 


95 


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96 
And  when  the  passing  years  bring  vacant  places  to 
our  board  and  such  great,  genial,  loving  and  loved 
souls  as  Hudson  and  Macy  and  Goulding  pass  away 
from  us  to  solve  the  mystery  that  lies  beyond  the  veil 
of  the  Infinite,  do  we  not  breathe  again  and  again  in 
their  memory 

'Tor  some  we  loved,  the  loveliest  and  the  best 
That  from  his  Vintage  rolling  Time  hath  prest. 
Have  drunk  their  Cup  a  Round  or  two  before. 
And  one  by  one  crept  silently  to  rest." 

Because  we,  too,  like  Omar,  dare  to  ask  of  the  un- 
replying  Sphinx  questions  of  eternity  that  every  man 
sometimes  in  his  life  puts  to  his  own  soul  in  trembling 
doubt,  we  are  not  infidels.  And  as  we  in  the  hour 
of  sleepless  night,  in  the  shadow  of  impending  doom, 
secretly  put  the  question 

"What,  without  asking,  hither  hurried  Whence? 
And,  without  asking.  Whither  hurried  hence?" 

that  Omar,  calmly  and  serenely  meditating  by  his  rose 
bushes  in  the  desert,  openly  asked  of  the  stars  above 
him  so  long  ago,  do  we  not  feel  his  kinship  with  all 
mankind ;  the  seer  who  read  the  secrets  of  the  heavens ; 


97 

the  prophet  who  voiced  the  agonized  questionings  of 
the  centuries;  the  poet  who  put  into  words  of  liquid 
and  enthralling  music  the  heartbeats  of  men  when  they 
loved  and  dreeimed  and  suffered. 

Now,  after  these  many  years  we  renew  with  a  deep- 
er, stronger,  greater  love,  the  vows  we  made  when 
we  were  young,  to  keep  green  among  the  sons  of  men, 
in  so  far  as  it  might  be  permitted  us,  the  memories  of 
Omar,  the  wise  teacher;  of  FitzGerald,  who  under- 
stood. 

Not  alone  because  of  the  beauties  of  the  quatrains 
in  their  English  dress  do  we  love  them,  though  in  their 
limpid  clearness  they  are  like  radiant  jewels  of  great 
price,  and  though 

"Vedder's  thought JFul  Muse  has  graced  the  verse 
With  added  jewels  from  the  Artist's  Mine," 

not  alone  because  they  speak  great  truths,  though  in 
their  simplest  form  they  often  express  whole  systems 
of  philosophies  condensed  into  a  single  sentence,  and 
one  line  may  be  an  unwritten  book;  nor  yet  alone 
because  "these  pearls  of  thought  in  Persian  gulfs  were 


96 
bred"  and  are  of  the  Elast  and  strange  and  therefore 
new,  although  in  every  word  they  bring  vividly  before 
us  the  burning  sands  of  the  desert  that  at  night  are  so 
near  to  the  stars  of  heaven,  that  free  and  untrammeled 
Hfe  so  close  to  nature  and  to  Nature's  God.  Nor  is 
our  love  because  it  is  a  "cult"  to  read  them,  a  fad,  a 
matter  of  the  passing  hour,  a  fashion  to  change  as  the 
North  Wind  veers  to  the  South,  even  though  it  has 
lasted  forty  years;  nor  again  is  it  because  of  a  matter 
of  editions  collected  from  the  ends  of  the  earth  in  all 
languages  and  numberless,  though  it  is  true  that  this 
poem  of  Omar  has  passed  into  more  editions,  in  more 
of  the  tongues  of  men,  and  that  more  copies  have 
issued  from  the  printing  press  and  been  sold  for  a 
price,  than  of  any  other  book,  save  only  the  Bible, 
recorded  in  the  annals  of  history.  Nor,  further,  is  it 
because  Omar  was  a  great  scientist  and  profound  stu- 
dent of  mathematics  as  well  as  poet,  though  many 
declare  him  the  greatest  of  astronomers,  as  he  devised 
a  calendar  so  accurate  that  it  required  but  one  day's 
correction  in  three  thousand  years,  more  accurate  than 


99 


100 
the  one  we  are  using  today;  and  in  addition  be  it 
remembered,  that  it  was  Omar  who  first  reduced  to 
an  exact  and  written  science  the  principles  of  Algebra, 
thus  for  all  time  establishing  his  claim  as  among  the 
greatest  of  mathematicians.  Nor  again  is  it  alone  be- 
cause FitzGerald  by  his  transcendent  genius  translated 
so  well  and  so  beautifully,  into  a  new  language,  the 
poem  of  one  who  had  lived  in  other  times  under  an 
alien  sky,  though  it  is  undoubtedly  the  most  marvelous 
translation  ever  made,  as  it  speaks  the  very  thoughts 
of  the  ancient  poet,  in  English  form  and  idiom,  a 
wonderful  thing  to  be  done  even  by  one  who  wrote  in 
Euphranor  the  best  description  of  a  boat  race  in  litera- 
ture, and  in  his  Agamemnon  reached  heights  of  classic 
triumph  beyond  the  great  world's  realization  even  to 
this  later  day. 

Not  for  any  of  these  reasons  alone  do  we  love  these 
wonderful  quatrains  but  for  all,  and  in  addition  to  all 
these,  because  Omar  breathes  the  very  essence  of  hu- 
man life  and  its  daily  ever  recurrent  problems, 
"Each  thought  a  ruby  in  a  ring  of  gold." 


101 
because  he  asks  of  the  stars  he  loved  the  eternal  ques- 
tions man  has  vainly  asked,  since  from  the  dark  re- 
cesses of  his  primeval  cave  he  looked  fearfully  out  into 
the  unknown  night ;  he  was  the 

"Tender  interpreter,  most  sadly  wise 
Of  earth's  dumb,  inarticulated  cries." 

Without  preaching  religion  Omar  expresses  sublimely' 
and  in  such  clear-cut  and  vibrant  phrases  that  the  ears 
of  men  cannot  mistake,  the  protest  against  hide-bound, 
obsolete,  and  narrow  creeds,  and  all  undue  restraint  on 
thought  and  conscience,  that  has  ever  stirred  mankind 
to  those  great  revolutions  that  alone  have  advanced 
civilization  and  the  cause  of  ultimate  truth;  he 
preaches  always  courage,  hope,  contentment,  self-re- 
liance, to  make  the  most  of  the  present  in,  through, 
and  by  LOVE,  the  great  and  abiding  love  of  home, 
of  country,  of  God,  that  represents  today  the  highest 
type  of  civilization,  the  ultimate  goal  of  the  perfect 
man. 


102 


2!gjl«OiCSC»7 


103 
MEMBERS  AND  GUESTS 

F.  F.  D.  ALBERY 

GEORGE  FREDERICK  ANDREWS 

SYLVESTER  BAXTER 

WALTER  FREDERIC  BROOKS 

JOSIAH  HENRY  BROWN 

CHANDLER  BULLOCK 

CHARLES  DANA  BURRAGE 

CHARLES  DANA  BURRAGE,  JR. 

ROBERT  HEYWOOD  BURRAGE 

S.  H.  BUTCHER 

DOUGLAS  CAIRNS 

ALBRO  E.  CHASE 

HENRY  HARMON  CHAMBERLIN 

JOSEPH  EDGAR  CHAMBERLIN 

ARTHUR  E.  CHILDS 

CARROLL  BRENT  CHILTON 

FRANK  LORING  GOES 

JOHN  HENRY  GOES 

•EDWARD  H.   CLEMENT 

EDWIN  SANFORD  CRANDON 

•EDWARD  LIVINGSTON  DAVIS 

NATHAN  HASKELL  DOLE 

•RICHARD  HENRY  WINSLOW  DWIGHT 

ALBERT  WASHINGTON  ELLIS 

•ROBERT  B.  FAIRBAIRN 


104 

JOHN  C.  FLYNN 

WALTER  ARCHER  FOSTER 

ARTHUR  FOOTE 

THOMAS  HOVEY  GAGE 

JEROME  ROWLEY  GEORGE 

HARRY  WILLIAMS  GODDARD 

•FRANK  PALMER  GOULDING 

BURTON  PAYNE  GRAY 

CHARLES  TAPPAN  GRINNELL 

♦EDWARD  PALMER  HATCH 

EDWARD  HERON-ALLEN 

ARTHUR  SHERBURNE  HARDY 

•THOMAS  WENTWORTH  HIGGINSON 

STEPHEN  C.  HOUGHTON 

•JOHN  E.  HUDSON 

ABRAHAM  VALENTINE  WILLIAMS  JACKSON 

WILLIAM  WALKER  JOHNSON 

WILLIAM  HOWLAND  KENNEY 

ALBERT  JOHN  KUSSNER 

•ANDREW  LANG 

CHARLES  ROCKWELL  LANMAN 

•CHARLES  F.  LIBBY 

•ARTHUR  MACY 

•JOSEPH  RUSSEL  MARBLE 

•CHARLES  HARDY  MEIGS 

•M.  H.  MORGAN 

THOMAS  BIRD  MOSHER 


105 


WILLIAM  DANA  ORCUTT 
WALTER  GILMAN  PAGE 
WILLIAM  E.  PLUMMER 
ALFRED  C.  POTTER 
•BERNARD  ALFRED  QUARITCH 
MONTGOMERY  REED 
GEORGE  ROE 
JOSEPH  C.   ROWELL 
•WILLIAM  F.  RUSSELL 
CARLOS  MUZZIO  SAENZ-PENA 
H.  M.  SCHROETER 
WILLIAM  BACON  SCOFIELD 
WILLIAM  D.  SEWALL 
HARRY  WORCESTER  SMITH 
•H.  MORSE  STEPHENS 
WILLIAM  EDWARD  STORY 
EBEN  FRANCIS  THOMPSON 
HAROLD  H.  R.  THOMPSON 
•ROSS  TURNER 
ELIHU  VEDDER 

LEONARD  CHARLES  VAN  NOPPEN 
CHARLES  WILLIAM  WALLACE 
LOUIS  N.  WILSON 
GEORGE  PARKER  WINSHIP 
GEORGE  EDWARD  WOODBERRY 
LAURENCE  C.  WOODWORTH 
•Dead 


The  Rosemary  Press  Edition. 

1921. 

50  copies,  bound  in  blue  paper,  signed  by  the  club  officers, 

for  the  use  of  the  members  of  the 

Omar  Khayyam  Club  of  America. 

Numbered   1   to  50. 

225  copies,  numbered  IR  to  22 5 R,  reserved  for 

the  Rosemary  Press, 

of  which  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  copies  are  for 

distribution  to  libraries. 

This  is  number 


4fM. 


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